Owen Jokes, an English architect, born in Wales in 1809, died in London, April 19, 1874. He was the only son of Owen Jones, a Welsh tradesman, whose "Myvyrian Archaeology of Wales," published under the name of Owain Myvyr (3 vols., London, 1801-'7), has been described by Matthew Arnold as a great repository of Welsh literature. The son, after studying with a London architect, spent four years on the continent and in the East. While in Granada he made with Jules Goury drawings of the Alhambra, which revealed for the first time the striking characteristics of that unique monument; and after Goury's death he carried on the publication of the work almost alone, investing in it his whole patrimony, and sparing no effort in its elaborate execution. It was published under the title of " Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra," with a notice of the kings of Granada and the translation of Arabic inscriptions by Gayangos (London, 1836-'42; 2d ed., 1847, with 101 plates). In 1851 he became one of the superintendents of the crystal palace in London, and next year director of its decoration in conjunction with the present Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt; and the courts of architecture and sculpture in the Sydenham crystal palace, and the decorative painting of that building, were all completed under his direction, with the assistance of Bonomi, Sharpe, and others in the Egyptian court.

His polychromatic decoration of the Greek court having excited comment, he vindicated his imitation of the ancient Greek sculptors, and illustrated his views by painting a portion of the casts of the Elgin marbles at Sydenham in party-colors, the hair being gilt. In his handbooks to the Al-hambra and other courts of the crystal palace, he gives a full exposition of the principles of ornamentation. His principal architectural work is St. James's Hall in Piccadilly. He also delivered lectures, and published one of the most important of them for the promotion of his views, which he lived to see generally adopted, though the variety and novelty of his conceptions occasioned controversy. The last of the many public recognitions he received was an honorary diploma for designs at the Vienna exhibition of 1873. He also prepared with Goury "Views on the Nile" (London, 1842), and furnished many others for illustrated works. His other productions include " Designs for Mosaic and Tessellated Pavements," with an essay by F. O. Ward (1842); "The Polychromatic Ornament of Italy " (1846); an elaborate " Grammar of Ornament" (folio, 1856); "One Thousand and One Initial Letters," and " Seven Hundred and Two Monograms " (1864); "Examplesof Chinese Ornament" (1867); and several volumes of Biblical illustrations.

A scholarship was founded after his death in 1874, by the "Owen Memorial" committee, in commemoration of his genius, and his portrait in mosaic was presented by it to the nation.